We were just taking note of the US Navy’s focus on stationary, portable, and even wearable microgrids when along comes a doozy of an example in the form of the USS Zumwalt DDG 1000. The newly launched high-tech destroyer has been dubbed the Navy’s first “all-electric” ship, but not because you can plug it into a wall socket. The Zumwalt’s distinctive feature is a fully integrated power system that both generates and distributes electrical energy everywhere in the ship, including the propulsion system as well as weaponry and support services.
A Floating Microgrid For The US Navy
The actual power source of the Zumwalt is a 78 megawatt array of four gas-turbine generators, but that’s the extent of the role of internal combustion engines on the ship. Here’s a rundown provided by our friends at the technology association IEEE:
…the Zumwalt’s propellers and drive shafts are turned by electric motors, rather than being directly attached to combustion engines. Such electric-drive systems, while a rarity for the U.S. Navy, have long been standard on big ships. What’s new and different about the one on the Zumwalt is that it’s flexible enough to propel the ship, fire railguns or directed-energy weapons (should these eventually be deployed), or both at the same time.
Launch of the USS Zumwalt courtesy of US Navy.
Speaking of railguns, another energy-intensive weapon system that could come into play is the Navy’s new laser weapons system (LaWS). Earlier this year we took note of an article about LaWS from the Office of Naval Research, which makes the case that ships with integrated all-electric power systems are essential to future force effectiveness, given the transition to energy-based forms of weaponry.
Here’s the money quote:
As the technology advances, and faced with rising and unpredictable fossil fuel costs, the Navy’s next-generation surface combatant ship will leverage electric ship technologies in its design. While electric ships already exist, design characteristics of a combatant ship are more complex with regard to weight, speed, maneuverability—and now, directed energy weapons.
For the record, the Zumwalt isn’t quite ready for prime time yet. The launch took place on October 28 at almost 90 percent completion, so there’s more work to be done before it’s fully operational. The Navy expects to have initial shakedowns completed by 2016.
The Zumwalt And You
If you were thinking that “all-electric” ship meant a battery-powered vessel that could potentially be charged from diverse renewable sources, the whole gas-turbine thing is a bit of a letdown.
Since the Zumwalt has just one original fuel source, from that perspective it’s not as advanced in future fuels as the Navy’s new SPIDERS microgrid for land based facilities, which can integrate both renewable energy and fossil fuels. The same goes for the wearable MAPS microgrid, which incorporates a battery that can be recharged from multiple sources.
However, given the Navy’s hand-over-fist pursuit of biofuels, the Zumwalt does open the door to the use of renewable biogas, so that’s something.
More to the point, the development of the Zumwalt and its two planned sister ships involves future electrical systems and energy efficiency improvements that could find application in the next generation of civilian electric vehicles, in addition to the potential for integrating advanced, multi-sourced energy storage systems in military vessels and vehicles.
BATH — A crowd of thousands gathered at Bath Iron Works on Saturday afternoon to watch the christening of the USS Zumwalt, the largest and most technologically advanced destroyer in Navy history.
Relatives of the ship’s namesake, Adm. Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt Jr., former chief of naval operations, as well as top Navy brass and Maine elected leaders celebrated the near-completion of a $3.3 billion ship that is the first of a new class of high-tech destroyers.
With the sudsy “thwack” of two champagne bottles near the ship’s bow, Ann Zumwalt and Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers christened the 610-foot-long ship in their father’s name as several thousand BIW employees, veterans and local residents cheered.
The two-hour ceremony was as much a celebration of the new destroyer and the shipyard that built it as it was for the late Zumwalt, who is credited with tearing down racial and gender barriers in the service.
“She is, in the truest sense of the word, the first of her class. So too was Admiral Zumwalt,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus told the crowd.
With more than 5,400 workers, General Dynamics-owned BIW is one of Maine’s largest private employers. The slogan “Bath-built is best-built” was uttered repeatedly during the ceremonies held inside a sprawling, high-security complex where at least four destroyers are at various stages of construction.
The centerpiece of Saturday’s show, however, was the unusual-looking warship floating dockside in the Kennebec River. Roughly 90 percent complete, the USS Zumwalt is expected to undergo at-sea trials next spring.
The first of three Zumwalt-class destroyers planned by the Navy, the DDG-1000 is a multiplatform ship able to fight on open water or operate close to shore to support land-based attacks. But it is the ship’s unique “stealth” design, size and high-tech equipment that make it different from previous destroyers – as well as more than twice as costly to build.
Every aspect of the Zumwalt’s exterior was designed to make the ship harder to detect on radar despite its size. Antennas, radar dishes and communications equipment are either hidden or enclosed in a 900-ton “superstructure” that sits atop the ship like a massive gray fortress.
The Zumwalt’s hull is designed to slice through waves with less wake, and Navy officials say the ship will have a fraction of the radar profile of the smaller Arleigh Burke-class DDG 51 destroyers also built at BIW.
“You will see her on the horizon long before you detect her on the radar,” said Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.
The Zumwalt is the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy, with a displacement of 15,000 tons that is nearly twice the size of the Arleigh Burke destroyers. However, the Zumwalt can hit speeds of up to 30 knots, can operate in shallower waters and has more precise weapons than the Arleigh Burkes.
Mabus called the ship “a modern marvel” that will lead to technological advancements on other ships even though only three Zumwalts are planned. It will also enable the Navy to be “in the right place all of the time” rather than “in the right place at the right time,” he said.
“We don’t have single-mission ships anymore and this one can do an amazing variety of things,” Mabus told reporters before the ceremonies. “It can also do it with a much smaller crew, and it gives us that technological edge.”
The ship is the first destroyer to have a “total ship computing” network enabling commanders to monitor and control all major functions from various locations within the ship. In terms of armaments, the Zumwalt will be equipped with long-range guided missiles as well as a first-of-its-kind 155 mm gun shooting GPS-guided ammunition at targets more than 60 miles away.
The ship’s high-tech systems will allow the Zumwalt to operate with a crew of just 130 sailors and 28 crew members supporting the aviation detachment, which is roughly half the size of the crew of Arleigh Burke destroyers.
Many of those future Zumwalt crew members – including Capt. James Kirk – were on hand Saturday and received a standing ovation from the crowd. Ann Zumwalt pointed out that the crew includes a single mom who fought in Afghanistan and an enlistee who will become a U.S. citizen at about the same time as his stint on the Zumwalt begins.
She said her late father “would delight to see the crew members of this ship reflect a Navy that he envisioned in the 1970s.”
“He strove for a Navy that was supportive, encouraging and compassionate towards all sailors, especially for minorities and women, a Navy that not only fought wars but also fought discrimination within its ranks,” Ann Zumwalt said.
There was no shortage of puns from speakers about the similarities between the names of the Zumwalt’s first captain and that of fictional James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise on “Star Trek.”
But retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. James Zumwalt praised Kirk’s 20-plus years of experience and, turning to him on Saturday, said, “You do have a lot of my father in you.”
With a $3.3 billion price tag to date, the USS Zumwalt costs more than twice as much as the Arleigh Burke destroyers currently under construction at BIW and its competitor shipyard, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.
Those costs are a key reason why the number of proposed Zumwalts dropped from more than 30 to three. Members of Maine’s congressional delegation, past and present, have fought to secure funding for the three Zumwalts and additional DDG-51 destroyers to be built at BIW.
“Today, BIW continues to set the standard for producing the best ships for the Navy at the best value,” said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The Zumwalt was originally slated to be christened last October, but that ceremony was postponed because of the government shutdown caused by a congressional stalemate over the budget. While Navy officials and the Obama administration have proposed an aggressive shipbuilding plan for the next decade, those plans are far from guaranteed amid the perennial fiscal uncertainty in Washington.
So it was no surprise when the crowd of shipbuilders and residents of Bath – known as the “City of Ships” – applauded heartily when Mabus said: “We are building more ships. We need more still.”
David Sharp, The Associated Press12:50 p.m. EDT April 10, 2016
BATH, Maine — The future USS Zumwalt is so stealthy that it’ll go to sea with reflective material that can be hoisted to make it more visible to other ships.
The Navy destroyer is designed to look like a much smaller vessel on radar, and it lived up to its billing during recent builder trials.
Lawrence Pye, a lobsterman, told The Associated Press that on his radar screen the 610-foot ship looked like a 40- to 50-foot fishing boat. He watched as the behemoth came within a half-mile while returning to shipbuilder Bath Iron Works.
“It’s pretty mammoth when it’s that close to you,” Pye said.
DEFENSE NEWS
At Sea Aboard the Zumwalt
Despite its size, the warship is 50 times harder to detect than current destroyers thanks to its angular shape and other design features, and its stealth could improve even more once testing equipment is removed, said Capt. James Downey, program manager.
During sea trials last month, the Navy tested Zumwalt’s radar signature with and without reflective material hoisted on its halyard, he said. The goal was to get a better idea of exactly how stealthy the ship really is, Downey said from Washington, D.C.
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The reflectors, which look like metal cylinders, have been used on other warships and will be standard issue on the Zumwalt and two sister ships for times when stealth becomes a liability and they want to be visible on radar, like times of fog or heavy ship traffic, he said.
The possibility of a collision is remote. The Zumwalt has sophisticated radar to detect vessels from miles away, allowing plenty of time for evasive action.
But there is a concern that civilian mariners might not see it during bad weather or at night, and the reflective material could save them from being startled.
The USS Zumwalt, the Navy’s new guided missile destroyer, makes it way down the Kennebec River as it heads out to sea on March 21, 2016, in Bath, Maine. The new destroyer, which was built at Bath Iron Works, will undergo final builder trials before the ship is presented to the Navy for inspection. Robert F. Bukaty/AP
Photo gallery: New Navy destroyer out for trials
The destroyer is unlike anything ever built for the Navy.
Besides a shape designed to deflect enemy radar, it features a wave-piercing “tumblehome” hull, composite deckhouse, electric propulsion and new guns.
More tests will be conducted when the ship returns to sea later this month for final trials before being delivered to the Navy. The warship is due to be commissioned in October in Baltimore, and will undergo more testing before becoming fully operational in 2018.
Christopher P. Cavas, Defense News 10:39 a.m. EDT March 31, 2016
Inside the US Navy’s New Stealth Destroyer
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ABOARD THE DESTROYER ZUMWALT — “All ahead one third on the starboard shaft.” The order was called out by the Bath Iron Works (BIW) conning officer, clearly heard in the hushed atmosphere of the pilot house. The bridge was dark except for the dim glow of flat-panel displays as the 16,000-ton destroyer moved away from the Portland, Maine, pier.
Perhaps 30 people were crowded into the space. The navigating team was led by Captain Earl Walker, the shipyard’s longtime chief pilot, and all the controls were manned by civilian engineers and shipbuilders working for BIW, which owns the Zumwalt until it is formally handed over this spring to the US Navy. Other engineers — from the shipyard, Raytheon and other manufacturers — looked over the operators’ shoulders.
Unusually for a ship on builder’s trials, the civilians were joined by about 130 members of the destroyer’s US Navy crew, on board to get their first chance to sit down and operate the ship that later this year they will call home.
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This was the third night out for the Zumwalt on its second series of builder’s sea trials, the first “alpha” trials having been carried out in early December. The ship, which will eventually go to sea with a crew of 147, was carrying 388 souls, one of the highest numbers Zumwalt likely will ever carry during a planned service life of about 40 years.
The 610-foot-long destroyer moved out slowly from the pier, making a sharp left turn, then a right to come into the channel. As it moved out of Casco Bay into the Atlantic, a slight sea was running, enough to throw spray from its sharp, wave-piercing prow and occasionally spit on the bridge. A slight glow in the darkness ahead belied the white running light on the Zumwalt’s bow — a change from the mast position required on other ships because the destroyer’s stealthy design leaves nowhere else to put it.
Accompanying the Zumwalt was the small US Coast Guard cutter Moray. Coasties regularly escort warships in US coastal waters for security, but the Moray also carried a team from the Naval Sea Systems Command using a variety of instruments to measure the Zumwalt’s signatures. Checking out the ship’s stealth qualities is as much a factor as making sure the ship’s engines work properly. The stealth features are effective — the Zumwalt is very difficult to detect on radar. For safety, reflectors are temporarily rigged in the halyards so other ships can see the destroyer.
The Zumwalt’s stark, angular profile is unlike any other ship on the seas, the epitome of stealth design that seeks to minimize radar cross-sections (RCS) and heat and emissions signatures across visual, physical and electronic spectra. The decks are not designed for people to be out and about, and all the usual topside ephemera is either recessed or moved inside the ship.
The only objects protruding above the flat foredeck are the huge enclosures for the two 155mm guns of the advanced gun system (AGS), the largest naval guns installed as standard equipment to go to sea in decades. Ranged along the sides of the ship on the foredeck and along the flight deck aft are 80 missile cells in a new arrangement intended to use the blast shields of the cells to protect the ship, and keep the centerline free for the gun system. No railings or lifelines are visible, although stanchions can be rigged manually when in port. Those venturing out on deck must latch on to a safety line.
The ship moved out of the harbor with an SPS-73 navigation radar rotating atop a mast on the foredeck, but as it began to sway with the sea the mast was retracted, periscope-fashion, into the hull.
Shipyards use builder’s sea trials to check out all the ship’s features and identify fixes. The Zumwalt is filled with so many new technologies — 10 major groupings and dozens of smaller items — that BIW is running a nonstandard second trial. In April, the ship will go to sea again for acceptance trials, when members of the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey comes aboard to conduct their own assessment. If those trials are successful, the board recommends the Navy accept the ship, and a subsequent delivery ceremony marks the stage where ownership is transferred to the government and the ship enters naval service.
“The first trial we were out about a week, this time Monday to Thursday,” said Capt. James Downey, program manager for NAVSEA’s PMS 500 office which oversees the DDG 1000 program. He spoke March 23, the ship’s third night out. “The real point is to demonstrate those systems the same way we will do it for acceptance trials. This is a dress rehearsal for that, and to grade ourselves. We’ll collect all the data and go back and debrief and see how we did.”
Downey felt good about the Zumwalt’s stealth qualities. “I’m not worried about the RCS whatsoever,” he declared. “It’s looking good. It’s looking too good.”
Despite his engineer’s caution, Downey was upbeat about the trials. “So far we haven’t had any failures — no equipment failures, no demonstration failures.”
Those on board reported the first two days of the trials were held in relatively rough weather, but the Zumwalt’s unusual, tumblehome hull performed as expected.
“The ship handled well. It’s been an exceptionally stable platform. It handled very well,” said US Navy Capt. James Kirk, who will become the Zumwalt’s first commanding officer.
During the trials, the twin rudders were put hard over at 30 knots. Kirk was impressed. “I would have thought the ship would have significantly more heel” during such a turn, he said. “It was only about a 7- to 8-degree heel.”
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Kirk was enthusiastic about the ship’s performance and about having his crew on board to learn to operate the ship.
“The Alpha trials demonstrated about 20 basic tasks and functions on the ship. During Bravo trials, we carried out more than 100 tasks,” Kirk reported.
The crew, he said, “got to integrate with the ship and operate under the supervision of BIW. You can’t beat that. The actual hands-on operation of the actual vessel is irreplaceable. On a class of ship that’s this different, where we have a lot of new technology, there is exceptional benefit for having this opportunity.”
This was also the first time the Zumwalt had been to sea with a reporter on board, providing an opportunity to get a look at some of the unique spaces and features on this highly classified ship.
The Bridge
Situated on the O-2 level, or the second level of the superstructure, the bridge is a large space that will have only three regular watch standers. Two positions are adjacent at the center, one for the junior officer of the watch (JOOW) and another for the junior officer of the deck (JOOD). The officer of the deck (OOD) has no seat, but is expected to stand and move about. The three positions will be filled by officers, not enlisted sailors. Manual machinery controls are between the two seated watch standers, while control and computer panels are provided for each position. The ship can be steered by autopilot, keyboard or mouse instructions or by rotating a small black knob that serves as the ship’s wheel.
The positions are nearly enclosed by a circular installation of consoles. From their seats, the JOOD and JOOW look past their engineering and navigational displays out to the bridge windows, while a fairly wide walkway is between the consoles and the windows. Overhead, the positions are nearly surrounded by eight large flat-panel screens, creating one of the most comprehensive bridge information displays afloat. Any display desired — a variety of sensors, intelligence inputs, cameras focusing on multiple areas around the ship — can be dialed in.
Flanking the JOOD/JOOW consoles are separate seats for the commanding officer, to starboard, and a commodore or the executive officer, to port. Those seats each have three large flat-panel displays overhead.
To the rear, two positions are provided for intelligence or mission planning purposes.
At the rear of each side of the pilot house are “alcoves” where the captain or OOD can conn the ship as it conducts an underway replenishment or docks and undocks. Two large, opening windows are provided, each big enough for two good-sized men to poke outside the skin of the ship to see down to the waterline.
Ship Mission Center
The ship’s nerve center is a huge command and control space two decks high, projecting from the steel-enclosed O-2 level into the O-3 level at the base of the composite superstructure that surmounts the ship. Three large flat-panel displays dominate the front of the room where 19 watch standers man console stations in four rows. The general layout of the consoles is somewhat similar to the latest Aegis Baseline 9 with similar user stations and common displays, although in a much larger space. The first and second rows handle weapons, including missiles, guns and anti-submarine and electronic warfare. Command and control positions occupy the third row, including seats for the commanding officer, tactical action officer and the engineering officer of the watch. Propulsion, engineering and information technology support personnel man the fourth row consoles.
Above and at the back of the SMC is a large, glassed-in second deck provided for mission planners, intelligence personnel or command staffs. There, they can function without disturbing the watch standers below while viewing the same common displays. Port and starboard of the SMC are additional enclosed spaces with more consoles and large panels to allow for specific mission planning or operations.
Below Decks
Down in the hull, a prominent feature is “Broadway,” a very large main-deck passageway running along the starboard side allowing ammunition and supplies to easily be moved to storage areas and magazines. The P-way, big enough for forklifts to drive through, is similar to those on the last generation of US battleships, which used the same descriptive term.
Broadway runs as far forward as the magazines for the two AGS guns. Just aft of the guns the open space is large enough for a number of workout machines to be placed for the crew, near a lounge where sailors can relax.
Amidships on the second deck are the mess areas. The wardroom for officers, goat locker for the chief petty officers, and mess for the crew are all served by the same, all-electric galley.
The two main machinery spaces each feature a power plant consisting of an advanced induction motor (AIM) and an MT-30 Rolls-Royce gas turbine together producing 39 megawatts, for a total output of 78 megawatts. Each AIM is directly connected to one of the ship’s two propeller shafts, eliminating the need for reduction gear. The machinery spaces are designed to be remotely operated.
Aft, a secondary ship’s mission center (SSMC) is installed on the port side. On a smaller scale than the large ship mission center, the SSMC is able to handle the same ship control functions as the SMC or the bridge and will function as the ship’s damage control center.
All the way aft is a large boat bay, big enough to store two 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) one in front of the other. The RHIBs are on rails, and launch and recover on a titanium cradle that rises and tilts to connect with a heavy-duty rubber extendable ramp running through stern doors in the Zumwalt’s wide, flat transom. Nearby, berthing racks are installed for a 14-member special operations team, along with space for their weapons and gear.
Hangar and Flight Deck
No nets ring the flight deck, which instead features personal safety barriers. The PSBs reduce the ship’s signature and are automatic, unlike nets fitted on destroyers and cruisers which need to be raised and lowered by sailors. On the Zumwalt, the PSBs will rise as soon as a landing helicopter is trapped by the Aircraft Ship Integrated Secure and Traverse (ASIST) helicopter recovery and handling system. The ASIST latches on to the helo and moves it into the ship’s large hangar, which is fitted with a new, two-piece solid door that could be a prototype to replace doors on other ships.
“It’s very reliable — it’s very hard to get this out of alignment,” Downey said. “The door is very easy to operate — push a button and it operates even if the ship rolls through 90 degrees” side to side.
Crew
The opportunity for a crew to get sea time before a ship is delivered is rare indeed.
“We’ve been waiting for 33 months,” said Command Master Chief (CMC) Dion Beauchamp, the ship’s top enlisted sailor. “It was very important for us to be aboard. The shipyard was gracious to allow us to do this.”
It was the second time the crew had been underway on the Zumwalt. The first was a day trip during the December Alpha trials, when the crew boarded the ship in Portland and rode it back to Bath. This time they boarded in Portland, but helped operate the ship for about 22 hours before returning the following day to the shipyard.
In addition to the Zumwalt crew, about half a dozen engineers from the crew of the Michael Monsoor, second unit of the three-ship class, were on board to familiarize themselves with the engineering plant.
Crew members took part in a number of operations and tests, from conning the ship to handling the engines to learning to operate the anchor — placed inside the ship and lowering through the bottom. The high degree of system integration aboard the Zumwalt, Beauchamp said, means sailors aren’t just learning to operate specific pieces of equipment. “This is operating a system of systems.”
Beauchamp, a veteran sailor who has served on an aircraft carrier, a cruiser and two frigates, said he had to learn 19 new technologies as a Zumwalt crew member, but he had an advantage.
“As part of the commissioning crew, you get experiences other crews don’t. You sit here with the group who designed these systems.”
He pointed out the difficulties in becoming part of the Zumwalt’s company. “All sailors have to have passed their last rating exam and do well at it,” he said. “Only one crew member is younger than 21.”
Chief Fire Controlman Dave Aitken normally operates weapon systems, but it will be another two years before the Zumwalt’s combat systems become operational. With the concentration on the hull, mechanical and engineering areas of the ship, Aitken and the FCs under his charge had other duties during the trials, working often with civilian engineers.
“The sailors learned from the Raytheon folks,” Aitken said, mentioning the prime contractor for the Zumwalt’s combat systems. “On the underway they sat at the consoles with a Raytheon guy looking over their shoulders.”
“There are no Tomahawks or weapons on this ship,” he added, “but we assist the other half of the combat systems department. We help the IT department with the integrated systems — communications, the total ship computing environment.” The experience, he said, will mean that “after our gear gets installed, the sailors are going to better understand how they fit into the system.”
Kirk, the commanding officer, was enthusiastic about what was accomplished on the trials.
“Every sailor has to share the burden of operations. Every sailor has benefited from this time at sea,” he said. “We were able to get more done than we’d planned before the trip. That was a happy surprise for the crew.”
Embarking the crew on the trials was also a positive for Downey, the program manager.
“They seem to have enjoyed operating the ship,” he said. “From what I’ve seen from the industry and Navy guys who have been working on it, there’s a lot of positive feedback from having the crew here — along with the extra energy and enthusiasm that they’ve brought, having the chance to operate the ship.”
Downey appeared pleased as the ship entered the Kennebec River to return to the shipyard.
“We’ve met all our planned objectives,” he said. “I don’t have any failed demonstrations. We’ve got to go through the data and get ready for the next big test here in about three to four weeks — acceptance trials.”
Those Navy-run acceptance trials are expected to take place in mid-April. If all goes well, the ship will be delivered and the crew will move aboard May 20. Months of pier-side training and certifications will follow, and the Zumwalt will leave the shipyard for good in September. A commissioning ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Baltimore, and the destroyer is planned to arrive at it home port of San Diego in early December.
Even then, the Zumwalt will be a long way from being ready for service. Under a two-part, phased delivery plan approved in 2007, the ship will begin a six-month post-shakedown availability at a San Diego shipyard in January, and for most of the year, the full combat system will be installed, including weapons, sensors and programming upgrades. Combat system sea trials will be in early 2018 off California, and only after that will the ship train up to deploy.
‘The young destroyerman of today is faced with a future full of the promise for adventure and accomplishment beyond compare.’ —Captain Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., U.S. Navy, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, November 1962
The late Admiral Zumwalt’s words are as true today as they were when he set pen to paper in 1962, and in no place are they truer than in the ship that now bears his name. On 12 April 2014, his daughters, Ann and Mouzetta, with their brother Jim at their side, christened the DDG-1000, imbuing the ship with the spirit of her namesake, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the 19th and youngest Chief of Naval Operations in U.S. Navy history. Until that moment, the vessel had been known by her builders as simply “Hull 601.”
The event marked a milestone in the life of the ship being built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. Since then, production, equipment activation, and system testing have continued. All generators have been lit off and load-tested and have powered the ship for prolonged periods. Both shafts have turned to their maximum speed. The ship’s network, the total ship computing environment (or TSCE), is energized, and this neural network connecting more than 30,000 sensors and equipment has been put to the test.
More than 100 of what will eventually be a 147-sailor crew have reported for duty at the precommissioning unit in Bath. Their training has proceeded apace to be ready to take delivery of the ship. The Zumwalt made her inaugural journey down the Kennebec River to complete the first of a series of trials in mid-December. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has announced the commissioning site to be Baltimore, Maryland. The initial home-port assignment in San Diego has been issued. Much is left to be done to ready the ship and her crew to enter the fleet, but make no mistake, the Zumwalt is looming on the horizon.
The DDG-1000’s journey began as part of the Surface Combatant 21st Century in the early 1990s during what was a rapidly changing strategic and operational environment following the collapse of the Soviet Union. A new naval strategy, culminated in the white paper “From the Sea” (O’Keefe, Kelso, & Mundy) and the subsequent naval strategy “Forward . . . From the Sea” (Dalton, Boorda, & Mundy, 1994), argued for an increased focus on power projection. Budget cuts drove the expensive-to-operate and -maintain battleships into retirement again, this time permanently.
Naval surface fire support remained a much-needed capability, but Tomahawk cruise missiles and precision-guided payloads from air platforms had proved their worth in Operation Desert Storm. Out of that stew came many ideas, one of which was an arsenal ship, a minimally manned vessel that was mostly a weapon magazine and the genesis of the DD-21 program.
Conceived in the 1990s age of booming information-technology developments, declining deficits, and network-centric warfare concepts, the DD-21 program arrived at a critical juncture in the post-9/11 era. When Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark rolled out Sea Power 21 to a Naval War College audience in the fall of 2001, among the Surface Combatant 21st Century family of ships was the DD-21, which soon thereafter was designated DD(X) before finally being unveiled in 2006 as DDG-1000. The lead ship, and therefore the class, was the Zumwalt .
Over a period of several years, the initial plans to procure 32 of these ships were reduced to three. That reduction predictably hazarded the program into a breach of the Nunn-McCurdy Act in 2010 (Title 10, U.S.C. § 2433, Unit Cost Reports [UCRs], 1982). Subsequently, the DDG-1000 program was reviewed and restructured, and, as required by law, a report made to Congress by then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recommended continuation and pursuit of cost-saving efforts. The volume-search radar was removed from the design with space, weight, and services retained and volume-search capability added to the multi-function radar, now known by the designation SPY-3, being the most visible change. Nonetheless, the ship remains costly and has fueled criticism from quarters both within and outside the Navy.
Of course, all of this is par for the course for Zumwalt. The admiral was hounded for many of his own initiatives to reform the Navy both from within and outside the service. Zumwalt himself is quoted as saying that he had a long list of critics and another long list of supporters, and that he was equally proud of both. Today, he is undoubtedly looking down on his ship and having a good chuckle. The Navy is rightly questioned on its capabilities in view of the cost. But there are some very straightforward reasons why the DDG-1000 will benefit our nation and the Navy.
First, the requirement for medium- to large-sized surface combatants is not waning, and the need for naval surface fire support remains. Since 1993 such capabilities have been limited in range, precision, and volume. The return of longer-range naval surface fire support to the fleet is a welcome capability. The Mk-51 advanced gun system, built by BAE, combined with the long-range land-attack projectile, provides operational commanders with long-range (65 nautical miles), precise, persistent, and volume fires. Each mount is capable of a sustained ten-rounds-per-minute firing rate.
With two magazines together carrying 600 rounds and the ability to replenish those rounds under way, our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines ashore will have significant firepower at their disposal. Theater and task force commanders will have a platform with the stealth to get in close and the capabilities to rapidly and persistently neutralize threats to the joint force. An enemy’s coastal missile and air-defense batteries, mine-deployment assets, and fast-attack craft bases can be held at risk and quickly neutralized with the combined capabilities of the DDG-1000. The value of adversaries’ forward outposts within striking distance of a Zumwalt -class destroyer will plummet when these ships deploy. The combination of strike, stealth, and conventional capabilities make the ship uniquely suited to compete against anti-access and area-denial strategies.
The DDG-1000 is also a multi-mission warship. Antisubmarine and mine-warfare capabilities are provided by the SQQ-90 integrated undersea warfare (or IUSW) suite, giving operational commanders ample capability in a very quiet ship. The SQQ-90 combines a bow-mounted medium-frequency array (the SQQ-60) a high-frequency array (the SQQ-61), the SQR-20 multi-function towed array, and the SLQ-25 Nixie towed-decoy system. In combination with the SPY-3 radar’s periscope-detection capability and electro-optical and infrared sensors, the IUSW suite will challenge adversary submariner’s calculus. In addition, the in-stride mine-avoidance capability provided by the SQQ-61 HF array, such as that found in our Virginia -class submarines, combined with the electro-optical surveillance systems, offers a significant advantage where mines may be deployed to counter access to our forces. The DDG-1000 is also designed to embark two MH-60R helicopters and has ample room for vertical take-off unmanned aerial vehicles. With either ship-launched vertical-launch antisubmarine rockets or MH-60R helicopters armed with MK 50/54 torpedoes, the DDG-1000 will be a formidable undersea-warfare player.
From an air-defense perspective, the DDG-1000 is expected to be a capable platform. Without the volume-search radar, the surveillance range is less than the Navy’s Aegis-equipped ships. But testing of the SPY-3 multi-function radar has demonstrated good performance in its initially intended role to search, detect, and track lower-elevation targets. It has undergone modification to conduct volume search and testing at Wallops Island Integration and Test Center, which is under way and will be further evaluated on the self–defense test ship in the not-too-distant future.
The Zumwalt will be outfitted with standard and evolved Sea Sparrow missiles loaded into the Mk-57 peripheral vertical-launch system (PVLS), which is composed of 80 missile cells in 20 modules arrayed around the periphery of the ship’s hull. Twelve of these modules are located on the forecastle of the ship with six on each side, and another eight are aft adjacent to the flight deck with four on each side of the ship. In addition to their hefty plating on the interior, making any explosive force exit outward from the ship, each of these cells is both longer and wider than the Mk-41 VLS cells providing room for payload growth for future weapons.
In the information operations domain, the DDG-1000 is designed to be at the forefront of electromagnetic maneuver warfare. With stealth, highly automated emissions control and monitoring, and both surface electronic warfare improvement program and ship-signals exploitation equipment systems, the DDG-1000 will have significant signature-control advantages over current warships. In addition, the DDG-1000 is designed to support special operations. Stealth, a large flight deck nearly twice the size of a DDG-51’s and almost 20 feet higher above the waterline, an internal boat bay capable of carrying two rigid-hull inflatable boats of either size, and dedicated special-operations berthing and planning areas to execute tailored missions all make the DDG-1000 a suitable platform to support special operations.
In today’s operational environment, there are plenty of tactical challenges for which a stealthy, survivable platform that can deliver persistent, agile, precision, volume fires would be useful. The overall mission capability and survivability of the ship offers an answer to those tactical challenges. The agility and persistence of the surface force is of enormous tactical value; however, like the surface force writ large, at this point, the DDG-1000’s antisurface warfare capability is limited. Whatever offensive antisurface weapon is developed will undoubtedly be made compatible with the DDG-1000. The wisdom of eliminating the volume-search radar from the DDG-1000 even as it continued development for the Gerald R. Ford –class carrier will be grist for some shipbuilding historian’s mill.
The hull form has its detractors, and the physics are not in dispute. The ship’s righting arm is almost three times that of other surface combatants. Up to and including sea state five, the ship is expected to ride well at all speeds and directions in relation to wave action. In extraordinary seas—wave heights greater than 20 feet (what mariners classify sea states 7 and above)—the ship can, if not sailed with care, experience undesirable righting motions. To address these concerns, extensive model testing at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock, Maryland, has been conducted, and a safe operating envelope across these higher sea states, which are expected for no more than 400 hours over the 35-year service life of the ship, has been developed. Safe operating guidance has been issued for trials, and the in-service guidance is under review. In mid-to-late 2017, calm and heavy weather trials will be conducted to validate the model-based guidance and establish the in-service sailing envelope for the ship.
The DDG-1000 has the reserve margins in space, weight, and power to be adapted for that future. Because we know that the ship we buy is rarely the ship we retire, to reach the intended service life a ship must do two things: maintain healthy hull, mechanical, and electrical systems and have a combat system that is capable relative to any potential adversaries’ capabilities. A ship with a 35-year service life must have combat-system upgrades along the way. Each of those typically takes up a little more space, a bit more weight, and some additional power. Our current surface combatants bear this out. Designed in the 1970s and 1980s, these ships began entering the fleet in the 1980s and 1990s. New sensors, decoys, data-exchange systems, and many other changes have been made to these ships both as part of modernization efforts and forward fit in new construction with a little bit of space, weight, and power margin being taken along the way. The DDG 1000 was built to meet today’s requirements and has margin to spare, power in particular, to accommodate modernization for an uncertain future.
In addition, new technologies are on the horizon. Railguns and lasers—science fiction 20 years ago and only beginning to become technically feasible a decade ago—are in operation or being fielded today on the ex-USS Ponce and joint high-speed vessel, respectively. These and other capabilities are approaching a level of maturity that begs for their inclusion in a future combatant. New radars and increasingly power-hungry systems are no doubt on the drawing boards and workbenches in industry and our federally funded research-and-development centers. We must have greater power to meet those needs.
At just over 610 feet in length, nearly 81 feet abeam, and weighing in at just under 16,000 tons, the ship’s basic dimensions should give an idea of the DDG-1000’s sheer size. The shape is similarly striking. The wave-piercing tumblehome and superstructure shape, combined with the elimination of topside equipment, are inherently stealthy resulting in a radar cross section 1/50th of DDG-51-class ships. She has a twin-screw, fixed-pitch propulsion train with each shaft being driven by advanced induction motors (AIMs). The ship’s mooring stations, 16 of them, are concealed within the hull behind access doors to be opened at sea only when conducting mooring evolutions. Flight-deck nets are replaced with a flush-deck personnel support barrier system hidden beneath the deck. The stealth aspects of the ship reflect one of the primary design drivers for the DDG-1000—survivability, measure of a ship and crew to perform the missions for which it is intended.
The stealth aspects of the ship reduce the likelihood of detection, localization, and successful attack by an adversary. In combination with her offensive and defensive sensors and weapons, the DDG-1000 is less susceptible to successful attack than many, if not all, U.S. surface warships in service today. This ship’s size, stout structure, four independent fire/power/cooling zones, automated damage control and firefighting systems, smart valve enabled automatic piping isolation capability, and integrated fight-through power (IFTP) all contribute to lowering ship vulnerability.
Explaining the IFTP system is novel unto itself, but the essence is the use of DC power distribution. Instead of automatic bus transfer switches with their attendant power interruptions on switching, the DDG-1000 has redundant DC power sources with auctioneering diodes that allow seamless power-source shifting. These same systems intended to reduce vulnerability also improve recoverability. Peripheral damage area cooling of bulkheads will limit fire without putting sailors on hoses to cool boundaries. Automated recovery of power and propulsion is designed into the ship. The bottom line is that the Zumwalt was designed and built to be a highly survivable platform.
The other primary design driver was to reduce the number of sailors required to operate the ship. To meet those requirements, a high level of automation was needed. The ship’s total ship computing environment (TSCE) is the system, both hardware and software, that provides an open-architecture solution to enable fewer sailors to perform mission-essential tasks. Eight million lines of code are wrapped into a couple hundred software ensembles that run everything from the 35-plus-megawatt generators, propulsion by AIMs, damage-control systems, and communications suite, sensors, and weapons. More than 32,000 sensor- and equipment-control signals are sent over a multiple managed ring hardware architecture to ensure redundancy and reliability of controls from remote stations.
The engineering plant, which is much larger than our current surface-combatant plants, is designed to be operated by just two sailors—one, the engineering officer of the watch, stationed in the ship’s mission center alongside the tactical action officer, and one engineering-control operator to monitor and operate equipment in the four auxiliary machinery rooms and three main machinery rooms.
On the bridge during normal steaming conditions, the watch consists of an officer of the deck, a junior officer of the deck, and a junior officer of the watch. The electro-optic visual system provides 360-degree surveillance at the integrated navigation and bridge console just above the watchstander, allowing 360-degree lookout capability. The automated announcing system permits reduced workload, eliminating the need for other watch stations unless the tempo of operations or weather require additional hands on deck.
Similarly in the ship’s mission center (SMC), which is the DDG-1000 nomenclature for the combat information center, fewer sailors are required than those found on our existing cruisers and destroyers. The SQQ-90 suite is designed to be operated by three sailors in contrast to the six required to operate the SQQ-89 system. Communications is designed to be controlled by two sailors, who also stand their watch in the SMC instead of a separate communications center.
Across the board, increased automation within the ship’s network has lowered manpower requirements. In addition, the maintenance plan for the DDG-1000 pushes longer interval maintenance ashore. Similar to the litorral combat ships, the DDG-1000 will require and have several weeks each quarter dedicated to planned and continuous maintenance availabilities. Essentially, quarterly and above preventive maintenance and repairs will be done by off-ship maintainers. Maintenance reviews are ongoing to ensure the crew has the correct maintenance procedures to sustain ship readiness while not overburdening the crew beyond the limit of the planned 147-sailor crew size.
So what lies ahead for the new ship? Delivery is expected to occur in the late spring to early summer. Soon thereafter, the crew moves aboard, and fitting out, training, and certification events will occur to ready the crew to safely sail and operate this warship. We will then sail away from Bath to ports yet to be assigned to show our nation what we received for the treasure provided. We will commission the ship in Baltimore, and the USS Zumwalt will complete some testing and proceed to the Pacific, the rightful home of the Big Z. We will sail under the Coronado Bay Bridge to one of the piers already fitted out with the 4,160-volt power we require.
Soon after arrival in San Diego, the ship will begin a four- to five-month post-delivery availability to install equipment that was not part of the current contract. Concurrent with and following that availability there will be a year-long mission-systems activation effort. Because of the truncations from 32 to 3 ships, a fiscally prudent but technically challenging decision was made to use the ships instead of costly land-based infrastructure to test out many systems. It is a discomforting fact that inevitably will be filled with challenges. Those will also undoubtedly be solved by the hard work, ingenuity, and endurance of the government and industry team that has been assembled to bring this ship to the fleet. If we are good, and perhaps with some luck added in for good measure, execution of the Test and Evaluation Master Plan will commence in early 2018. Before long, like most of our Pacific Fleet, the USS Zumwalt will be sailing past the Arizona Memorial rendering honors, perhaps as the ship arrives for one of our biennial Rim of the Pacific exercises. Now that would definitely be an accomplishment and an adventure beyond compare.
Captain Kirk is commanding officer of the Precommissioning Unit Zumwalt . He is a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a career surface warfare officer.
David Sharp, The Associated Press9:49 a.m. EDT May 15, 2016
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BATH, Maine — The U.S. Navy is ready to take ownership of the Zumwalt, its largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyer.
Sailors’ uniforms and personal effects, supplies and spare parts are being moved aboard the 610-foot warship in anticipation of crew members taking on their new charge, said Capt. James Kirk, the destroyer’s skipper.
The Zumbalt is the first new class of warship built at Bath Iron Works since the Arleigh Burke slid into the Kennebec River in 1989. The shipyard is expected to turn the destroyer over to the Navy this week.
“We’ve overcome lots of obstacles to get to this point,” said electrician John Upham, of Litchfield. “I think everybody in the shipyard is proud of the work we’ve done.”
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The ship features an angular shape that makes it 50 times more difficult to detect on radar; it’s powered by electricity produced by turbines similar to those in a Boeing 777; new guns are designed to pummel targets from nearly 100 miles away. Advanced automation will allow the big ship to operate with a much smaller crew than on current generation of destroyers.
The final cost of the Zumwalt is expected to be at least $4.4 billion.
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The original concept for the land-attack destroyer was floated more than 15 years ago then underwent several permutations. The final design called for a destroyer with a stealthy shape and advanced gun system that can fire rocket-propelled projectiles with pinpoint accuracy.
But the growing cost forced the Navy to reduce what was originally envisioned as a 32-ship program to just three ships. The loss of economies of scale drove up the cost of the individual ships.
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The slow-going and rising costs were little surprise after the General Accounting Office warned that the Navy was trying to incorporate too many new technologies into the ship.
“Zumwalt was a challenge to assemble because of all the new technologies, but sea trials show it is a world-class warship with unique capabilities,” said Loren Thompson, senior defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.
Some of the ship’s 143 crew members have been in Bath for more than two years to prepare for the day they take control of it. The sailors will continue training to prepare the ship to be formally commissioned into service as USS Zumwalt at a ceremony in October in Baltimore, Kirk said. From there, the ship will travel to its homeport in San Diego for further tests and trials.
TEWKSBURY, Mass., June 17 (UPI) — The USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) has passed its acceptance trials, the ship’s electronics developer Raytheon announced Friday.
Raytheon is the prime mission-systems equipment integrator for the Zumwalt-class destroyer program.
Key ship capabilities, including the Raytheon-developed comprehensive Total Ship Computing Environments, were tested as part of the trials, the company said in a statement.
Systems performed well throughout two periods at sea, culminating in the ship’s acceptance by the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey.
While underway for the builder’s trial, the onboard Raytheon team also conducted 20 hours of training with members of the pre-commissioning crew.
“We’re seeing the years of design, development and testing come to life,” Raytheon’s DDG 1000 program ship integration and test director Pat O’Kane said.
In addition to the Total Ship Computing Environment operating well, the engineering control systems, integrated bridge, navigation and electro-optic surveillance systems also performed well in trials.
The ship will sail to Baltimore for its commissioning in October, Raytheon said, and will then head to its home port in San Diego for mission systems activation commencement.
The Total Ship Computing Environment is a single, encrypted network that controls all shipboard computing applications, from the ship’s lights to its radars and weapons systems, Raytheon said.
The ship also features electronic modular enclosures, integrated undersea warfare systems and a MK57 vertical launching system.
The next ship in the class, the USS Michael Monsoor, will be christened Saturday at Bath Iron Works in Maine, Raytheon said.
BATH — Bath Iron Works hosted a christening ceremony Saturday for the second of three Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers it is building, the DDG 1001 Michael Monsoor.
At least 1,500 people attended the event, including all four members of Maine’s congressional delegation and family members of the ship’s namesake, a Navy SEAL who was killed on Sept. 29, 2006, in Iraq when he jumped on an enemy grenade to absorb the blast. Petty Officer 2nd Class Monsoor’s act of herosim saved the lives of three fellow SEALs and eight Iraqi Army soldiers. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2008.
“He lived these words from the Gospel of John: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,’” Republican Sen. Susan Collins told the crowd in a moving tribute to Monsoor.
At the ceremony, the ship was christened by Monsoor’s mother, Sally Monsoor.
“May God bless this ship, and all who sail within her,” she said before smashing a bottle against the ship, the Associated Press reported.
Speakers at the ceremony also praised the workers at General Dynamics’ BIW, who have put in thousands of hours building the three Zumwalt-class destroyers. The first ship, the USS Zumwalt, was officially handed over to the Navy in May. It is named after the late Adm. Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt, who earned a Bronze Star in World War II, commanded small boats that patrolled the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and served as Chief of Naval Operations.
The Zumwalt-class ships consist of an unusual design that minimizes their radar signature, along with new guns to boost the Navy’s land attack capability and a hull designed for sustained operations close to shore. They are highly automated and require crews nearly half the size of other existing destroyers.
At Saturday’s ceremony, 2nd District Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin described the future USS Michael Monsoor as an “extraordinary machine of peace and security.”
“Today, under the canopy of this powerful freedom machine, we honor the legacy of Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor,” he said.
The Zumwalt-class ships are the largest and most technologically sophisticated destroyers ever built for the Navy. Each displaces over 15,000 tons, is more than 600 feet long and more than 80 feet wide.
They are also the most expensive Navy ships ever built. The Navy’s latest budget submission suggests the cost of the first ship will be at least $4.5 billion.
BIW President Fred Harris said lessons learned from building the first Zumwalt have shaved thousands of hours off the time it is taking to complete the second ship.
“Overall, the Michael Monsoor will take the shipyard 20 percent less time to build than the Zumwalt,” Harris said. The third and final Zumwalt-class destroyer is already under construction, he added. “I can say without hesitation that BIW’s workforce is the most skilled in the nation.”
Following the 10 a.m. christening ceremony, the ship was scheduled to begin its transition from BIW’s land-level transfer facility to the dry dock. On Monday, the dry dock will move into the middle of the Kennebec River and be ballasted, allowing the ship to float off, according to BIW.
Tugboats will then move the ship alongside the transfer facility on the west side of the Kennebec.
Not everyone who traveled to BIW on Saturday was there to celebrate the christening of a new Navy destroyer. A group of about 30 protesters held a rally just outside the shipyard to draw attention to concerns such as the human and financial costs of wars, and the U.S. military’s contributions to pollution and global warming.
Twelve protesters were arrested after they blocked Washington Street in front of the shipyard’s south gate, Bath police said. The protesters were from Maine Veterans for Peace and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, police said.
The dozen – all from Maine except for one man from Woodstock, New York – sat down in the road and refused to move, at which point they were arrested and charged with obstructing a public way. Police said the protesters were cooperative and were released on their personal recognizance after booking, with a court date of Aug. 2.
Peter Morgan of Veterans for Peace said he thinks the money spent on building Zumwalt-class destroyers could be put to better use, such as by helping those in need and repairing the country’s aging infrastructure.
“I’m not sure how the destroyer addresses terrorism, exactly,” he said.
Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy contributed to this report.
Christopher P. Cavas, Defense News 
